ULTRAMagic Eon 2 - Chapter 13
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“Alright, everyone, give Wynnstan some space,” Blood-Wraith called out as his group entered the main hall. Not that many members of the guild were present, but it still felt right to do so.
Wynnstan was a mess, and a far cry from his usual confident and brash self. His hair was messy, his clothes were disheveled, and it looked like he had not had a good amount of sleep in ages from the bags beneath his eyes. In truth it was actually a bit haunting to see him in the sorry state he was in “Where am I?! Oh, the guild? Yeah, the guild…”
“Take it easy, buddy, everything’s alright…” Schwarzes said as he sat him down and conjured up a cup of warm, soothing tea for him.
“Good lord, what even happened to him?” Weaver asked as he took a seat.
“Perhaps he’s been away from The Realm of Chaos for too long?” Ludwig proposed.
“Yeah, that would be it…” Schwarzes answered. “Chaos-born entities typically need to stick to their own realm, but can stay in other realms if need be. Furthermore they can train themselves to be outside the Realm of Chaos even longer, perhaps even to a point where they could dwell nigh-indifferently in other realms. Obviously Wynnstan is reaching his limits though. And as an aside, if you ever wonder why we never see Lucanus despite his pledge to help us out, Order-born entities are apparently even more unstable than Chaos-born ones.”
“Mother of God,” David said to himself, utterly amazed by Wynnstan’s presence, even if it was incredibly hectic. “Wynnstan, my boy, do you feel up to talking about your current predicament?”
“I DIDN’T HIDE MY TOYS IN THE GUTTER,” he exclaimed, startling everyone. “Oh, s-sorry about that…” Wynnstan sipped some more of his tea, with it seeming to calm him down. “I… I don’t know what happened. One day I was heading to The Unlight and the next I had completely forgotten how to go home. My brain has been fogged up ever since…”
Serjiel groaned in frustration as he adjusted his belt and also sat down at the table. “That would imply Karnage is up to no good, if you ask me…”
“KARNAGE!?! I’LL KILL THAT BASTARD FOR WHAT HE DID TO MOM AND DAD!” Wynnstan roared as he shot up and slammed his hands on the table.
“Easy, Wynnstan,” Schwarzes comforted his friend as he sat him back down. “He’s not here right now.”
“Oh, right…” He took an uneasy breath to try and ease his nerves. “Part of the reason I went to visit Schwarzes was to check to see if he had seen Karnage as of late. General Anara… or was it Hannibal? Dad? NO, it was everyone! Everyone is suspicious about Karnage going quiet. Dad did throw his tower into the void after all…”
“Yes, indeed,” Tiberius said with a nod as he summoned some documents and set them on the table. “From the fragmented communications we’ve had with the Arbiters of Droom, Karnage’s ‘absence’ is of great concern, and may have led to these strange and ongoing issues we’ve been dealing with ever since Gore showed up…”
“Oh, did you guys know Gore is Karnage?” Wynnstan clarified in a surprising and uncharacteristic moment of positive clarity. The guild members slowly nodding did not fill him with confidence, however.
“Yeah, Wynnstan, we’ve figured that,” Blood-Wraith dryly noted.
“I’ve been saying we should go after him, but evidently that’s super risky…” Ludwig added.
“IT’S INCREDIBLY RISKY, GIVEN THAT HE WAS DAD’S CHAMPION AT ONE POINT,” Wynnstan exclaimed as he went to Ludwig and shook him by the shoulders.
“At ease, Wynnstan,” Tiberius said as he tapped his staff on the ground. “At the risk of another outburst, are you able to confirm a suspicion we’ve had for a while now?”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?” he inquired as he calmly sat back down.
“Intel from Odo before he was captured…”
“HE WAS CAPTURED!?!”
“AHEM, before he was captured by Karnage, he stated that he was convinced that Karnage was the reincarnation of The Behemoth God, which I can personally state was a notorious member of The Eternal Order of the Epoch. He was not subdued until the early modern phase of the Cosmos, during my time with The Dark Divers Guild. And even then I firmly believed he used that as a means of furthering his plans. The Automaton, Erikson, and I have been trying to deduce where he ended up, and I now firmly believe he reincarnated into Karnage. How coincidental is it when we deal with one Eternal Order member only for an eerily similar one to immediately pop up and join?”
“Hold up, dad raised Karnage up from squalor though…” Wynnstan pointed out. This statement was a little odd given what he had previously stated, but it was obvious that his mind was a bit here and there at the moment.
“Time is relative and convoluted for me, at this point in my existence. What feels like a long period of time to you went by in a flash for me. You could say Karnage biding his time under Wulfric’s command passed like a month from my perspective.”
“An astute series of observations regardless, Tiberius,” David complimented as he began to pace around. “And the timing is way too convenient in all instances for any of this to be a coincidence. If we are to assume this is all definitely Karnage’s doing, by what mechanism is he blocking us from getting into contact with our allies? I feel solving this mystery will give us an incredible advantage over him.”
Blood-Wraith got up, sighed, and leaned on the table with his hand. “Well whatever it is, it’s not good. Vex and Drusa have been having bad brain fog as of late, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have occasional moments of haze in my mind…”
“Aren’t you three capable of performing curses?”
“Yes, what of it?”
David stroked his chin while he thought. “Perhaps someone amongst The Sepulcher God’s ranks can perform their own curses…”
That made Blood-Wraith shudder. “Source, I hope not, as Vex made sure the knowledge of curses were locked down.”
“Would you really be surprised if The Sepulcher God had pulled it off?” Deimos said as he walked over. “Given how crafty he is, we should consider it a strong possibility. I really wish we could locate the core personality of The Tyrant God, as he was an expert on dealing with The Sepulcher God… Tiberius, can I say right now that Mind-Wraith was right and we were way too harsh on The Tyrant God back in the day?”
“Aye, Eustorgio,” he admitted. “I’ll eat my hat to that one.”
Serjiel turned to Wynnstan, who was sitting there quietly. “You okay, Wynnstan?”
“Yes, as this is incredibly fascinating.”
“I was expecting another outburst by now…”
Schwarzes laughed as he hit the table. “Nope, he’s not doing alright, as he’s never this attentive. Someone go tell Zal, he’d love it!’
Wynnstan groaned, feeling like he was not being given enough credit. “Actually, Schwarzes, I’m doing fine, I'll have you know… I think… I mean, I… argh, my head hurts!”
“Hey, I’m interested too,” Dragoslava pointed out as she turned the page of her notebook. “Desislav, can you make Wynnstan something to eat? Help soothe his nerves?”
“Sure-sure,” he said as he started to head off to the kitchen. “Hungry, Wynnstan? Want anything in particular?”
“A sub sandwich with the works, please…” he requested as he shifted in his seat.
“Coming right up!”
Before anything else could be said, Quasar came running in and over to the group. “Wynnstan! Wynnstan!”
“Quasar! Oh thank goodness!”
Quasar stopped right before him to catch his breath. “Are you okay? Have you been able to get back home?”
“What do you think?” he replied with a smile of unease and a twitch of his head.
“Dang it… I’ve been trying to get ahold of dad, but to not much luck. Fortunately everyone seems to be alright from what I can tell.”
In that moment Wynnstan seemed to relax and his essence went from tangled up to loose, if still a bit messy. It was like part of his issue had been solved. “Well hey, at least we got each other, little buddy,” he said as he put his arm around Quasar and shook him a little.
Unbeknownst to the arbiter, Quasar had siphoned off some of his energy. “Oh jeez, you’re a mess aren’t you?” Wynnstan nodded. “Oh, Shaye, Wynnstan likes guns.”
“Really now?” he asked with a slight smile on his face. “You a gunslinger, Wynnstan?”
“You could say that,” he answered with a nod. “Dad wanted me to wield a Zweihander as an arbiter, but I saw the troops of Yorath and Benedictus and made up my mind.”
Dragoslava also smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Wynnstan actually made my Death Cannon Bullets even more effective than the ones I used on The Lich of Old all those years ago.”
Shaye leaned back a little in his chair and relaxed, like a father about to elucidate his son. “While I may have been a B-17 pilot, knowing how to pick up a gun and fire it was standard practice in the military. I’ve sadly had to send a few fathers back to God, but I don’t regret putting my life on the line for my country. When you pick up a gun, you have all the power in the world at your fingertips, like wielding the power of God itself. It’s up to you how to use it and whether or not you're going to commit to the path of the warrior. It's a brutal one, but someone has to do it.”
Wynnstan felt at peace by that speech, like he was speaking to his own father. “Shaye, are you a follower of my father?”
“Ha, I’m sorry, but what?”
He banged the table and declared “That is something my father would absolutely say! Although in hindsight maybe that’s all why he was so leery about letting me have a gun. He’s a man who reveres the sword and believes it is an honorable way to die, as your fate is your hands. A gun? Well nothing’s stopping me from picking you off without you even realizing it…”
“Yeah, I have to say the era of the gun was definitely a point of no return in Earth’s history,” Desislav commented as he set Wynnstan’s food before him. “I’ve been grazed by bullets from hunters a few times and need I say more about The Great War?”
“I can understand where your father is coming from, Wynnstan,” said Shaye. “I’d argue you shouldn’t keep a man from his calling, however. A sword is vastly more honorable than a gun, as you can look your opponent in the eye and be at peace. A gun on the other hand is quick and merciless. Still, you can do a lot of good with a perfect shot. We live in trying times, but with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately it often falls on us to be the arbiters of war as the elected bureaucrats never get their hands dirty, having had a silver spoon in their mouth since day one…”
Blood-Wraith chuckled, recalling some of the stuff Will had told him about the Liger Brigade and Earth-23. He knew Shaye was from a different universe, but it all felt like him and Will were in the same boat. “Shaye, can you talk to Will when he properly joins the guild in five or so years?”
“Five? It’s going to take that long?”
“Well maybe six, I’ve sort of lost track.”
“And he’s a soldier?”
“Not quite, rather a special operative of The Liger Brigade who can assume military duties. Still, he had a lot on his mind when he was us and I think your perspective would legitimately help alleviate his worries.”
“Well shoot, Blood, you send him right my way anyways and we’ll have a good’ol talk…”
“Once he gets his head on straight. Check the records, as we had some roadbumps the others have no doubt mentioned to you.”
Shaye laughed. “Duly noted, partner.”
Serjiel then cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Wynnstan, I think you should stick with us going forward. Furthermore I feel you should join the guild proper so we can have a direct line of communication with the arbiters. What do you say?”
“Hmm…” He needed a second to give it some thought as he sipped his drink. “Well it wouldn’t be a bad idea given that the arbiters are starting to train ULTRAMagic mages again. Do you guys think you got what it takes to have me around though?”
“Well the epoch guild was quite hectic and this guild has certainly seen its fair share of adventures so far,” Tiberius noted, making Wynnstan laugh.
“It’d be really cool if you did join, Wynnstan!” Quasar asserted. “Everyone here’s having a lot of fun.”
Weaver chuckled and patted the boy on the back. “Well I don’t know if I’d call this fun, but we’re in it together and we’ll be here for you no matter what, Wynnstan.”
Wynnstan finished up his sandwich and soda, thinking about what he wanted to do next. As much as he loved the Tree People, it would probably be best to stick around with a bunch of other ULTRAMagic Mages. His mind was scrambled, but talking with them seemed to clear it up so he could think straight again. “Alright, you guys are on. Hopefully we can get ahold of dad and uncle before the worst happens…”
“Well with our goal of confronting and stopping Karnage, that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle,” Tiberius replied. “And hopefully we can continue to pull his minions out from under him and over to our side. We have strength in numbers after all.”
“You’re not going to get that crazy Morrigan chick to join us, are you?”
The others laughed with Blood-Wraith shaking his head. “Wynnstan, Morrigan is in legitimate danger,” he clarified. “While it was a wild goose chase before, now it is imperative we get her to come over to our side. She’s more important than most realize…” This was a sentiment shared by Ludwig, albeit for strange reasons consisting of phantom memories from events that had yet to happen to him.
Next: Chapter 14
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
“Alright, everyone, give Wynnstan some space,” Blood-Wraith called out as his group entered the main hall. Not that many members of the guild were present, but it still felt right to do so.
Wynnstan was a mess, and a far cry from his usual confident and brash self. His hair was messy, his clothes were disheveled, and it looked like he had not had a good amount of sleep in ages from the bags beneath his eyes. In truth it was actually a bit haunting to see him in the sorry state he was in “Where am I?! Oh, the guild? Yeah, the guild…”
“Take it easy, buddy, everything’s alright…” Schwarzes said as he sat him down and conjured up a cup of warm, soothing tea for him.
“Good lord, what even happened to him?” Weaver asked as he took a seat.
“Perhaps he’s been away from The Realm of Chaos for too long?” Ludwig proposed.
“Yeah, that would be it…” Schwarzes answered. “Chaos-born entities typically need to stick to their own realm, but can stay in other realms if need be. Furthermore they can train themselves to be outside the Realm of Chaos even longer, perhaps even to a point where they could dwell nigh-indifferently in other realms. Obviously Wynnstan is reaching his limits though. And as an aside, if you ever wonder why we never see Lucanus despite his pledge to help us out, Order-born entities are apparently even more unstable than Chaos-born ones.”
“Mother of God,” David said to himself, utterly amazed by Wynnstan’s presence, even if it was incredibly hectic. “Wynnstan, my boy, do you feel up to talking about your current predicament?”
“I DIDN’T HIDE MY TOYS IN THE GUTTER,” he exclaimed, startling everyone. “Oh, s-sorry about that…” Wynnstan sipped some more of his tea, with it seeming to calm him down. “I… I don’t know what happened. One day I was heading to The Unlight and the next I had completely forgotten how to go home. My brain has been fogged up ever since…”
Serjiel groaned in frustration as he adjusted his belt and also sat down at the table. “That would imply Karnage is up to no good, if you ask me…”
“KARNAGE!?! I’LL KILL THAT BASTARD FOR WHAT HE DID TO MOM AND DAD!” Wynnstan roared as he shot up and slammed his hands on the table.
“Easy, Wynnstan,” Schwarzes comforted his friend as he sat him back down. “He’s not here right now.”
“Oh, right…” He took an uneasy breath to try and ease his nerves. “Part of the reason I went to visit Schwarzes was to check to see if he had seen Karnage as of late. General Anara… or was it Hannibal? Dad? NO, it was everyone! Everyone is suspicious about Karnage going quiet. Dad did throw his tower into the void after all…”
“Yes, indeed,” Tiberius said with a nod as he summoned some documents and set them on the table. “From the fragmented communications we’ve had with the Arbiters of Droom, Karnage’s ‘absence’ is of great concern, and may have led to these strange and ongoing issues we’ve been dealing with ever since Gore showed up…”
“Oh, did you guys know Gore is Karnage?” Wynnstan clarified in a surprising and uncharacteristic moment of positive clarity. The guild members slowly nodding did not fill him with confidence, however.
“Yeah, Wynnstan, we’ve figured that,” Blood-Wraith dryly noted.
“I’ve been saying we should go after him, but evidently that’s super risky…” Ludwig added.
“IT’S INCREDIBLY RISKY, GIVEN THAT HE WAS DAD’S CHAMPION AT ONE POINT,” Wynnstan exclaimed as he went to Ludwig and shook him by the shoulders.
“At ease, Wynnstan,” Tiberius said as he tapped his staff on the ground. “At the risk of another outburst, are you able to confirm a suspicion we’ve had for a while now?”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?” he inquired as he calmly sat back down.
“Intel from Odo before he was captured…”
“HE WAS CAPTURED!?!”
“AHEM, before he was captured by Karnage, he stated that he was convinced that Karnage was the reincarnation of The Behemoth God, which I can personally state was a notorious member of The Eternal Order of the Epoch. He was not subdued until the early modern phase of the Cosmos, during my time with The Dark Divers Guild. And even then I firmly believed he used that as a means of furthering his plans. The Automaton, Erikson, and I have been trying to deduce where he ended up, and I now firmly believe he reincarnated into Karnage. How coincidental is it when we deal with one Eternal Order member only for an eerily similar one to immediately pop up and join?”
“Hold up, dad raised Karnage up from squalor though…” Wynnstan pointed out. This statement was a little odd given what he had previously stated, but it was obvious that his mind was a bit here and there at the moment.
“Time is relative and convoluted for me, at this point in my existence. What feels like a long period of time to you went by in a flash for me. You could say Karnage biding his time under Wulfric’s command passed like a month from my perspective.”
“An astute series of observations regardless, Tiberius,” David complimented as he began to pace around. “And the timing is way too convenient in all instances for any of this to be a coincidence. If we are to assume this is all definitely Karnage’s doing, by what mechanism is he blocking us from getting into contact with our allies? I feel solving this mystery will give us an incredible advantage over him.”
Blood-Wraith got up, sighed, and leaned on the table with his hand. “Well whatever it is, it’s not good. Vex and Drusa have been having bad brain fog as of late, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have occasional moments of haze in my mind…”
“Aren’t you three capable of performing curses?”
“Yes, what of it?”
David stroked his chin while he thought. “Perhaps someone amongst The Sepulcher God’s ranks can perform their own curses…”
That made Blood-Wraith shudder. “Source, I hope not, as Vex made sure the knowledge of curses were locked down.”
“Would you really be surprised if The Sepulcher God had pulled it off?” Deimos said as he walked over. “Given how crafty he is, we should consider it a strong possibility. I really wish we could locate the core personality of The Tyrant God, as he was an expert on dealing with The Sepulcher God… Tiberius, can I say right now that Mind-Wraith was right and we were way too harsh on The Tyrant God back in the day?”
“Aye, Eustorgio,” he admitted. “I’ll eat my hat to that one.”
Serjiel turned to Wynnstan, who was sitting there quietly. “You okay, Wynnstan?”
“Yes, as this is incredibly fascinating.”
“I was expecting another outburst by now…”
Schwarzes laughed as he hit the table. “Nope, he’s not doing alright, as he’s never this attentive. Someone go tell Zal, he’d love it!’
Wynnstan groaned, feeling like he was not being given enough credit. “Actually, Schwarzes, I’m doing fine, I'll have you know… I think… I mean, I… argh, my head hurts!”
“Hey, I’m interested too,” Dragoslava pointed out as she turned the page of her notebook. “Desislav, can you make Wynnstan something to eat? Help soothe his nerves?”
“Sure-sure,” he said as he started to head off to the kitchen. “Hungry, Wynnstan? Want anything in particular?”
“A sub sandwich with the works, please…” he requested as he shifted in his seat.
“Coming right up!”
Before anything else could be said, Quasar came running in and over to the group. “Wynnstan! Wynnstan!”
“Quasar! Oh thank goodness!”
Quasar stopped right before him to catch his breath. “Are you okay? Have you been able to get back home?”
“What do you think?” he replied with a smile of unease and a twitch of his head.
“Dang it… I’ve been trying to get ahold of dad, but to not much luck. Fortunately everyone seems to be alright from what I can tell.”
In that moment Wynnstan seemed to relax and his essence went from tangled up to loose, if still a bit messy. It was like part of his issue had been solved. “Well hey, at least we got each other, little buddy,” he said as he put his arm around Quasar and shook him a little.
Unbeknownst to the arbiter, Quasar had siphoned off some of his energy. “Oh jeez, you’re a mess aren’t you?” Wynnstan nodded. “Oh, Shaye, Wynnstan likes guns.”
“Really now?” he asked with a slight smile on his face. “You a gunslinger, Wynnstan?”
“You could say that,” he answered with a nod. “Dad wanted me to wield a Zweihander as an arbiter, but I saw the troops of Yorath and Benedictus and made up my mind.”
Dragoslava also smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Wynnstan actually made my Death Cannon Bullets even more effective than the ones I used on The Lich of Old all those years ago.”
Shaye leaned back a little in his chair and relaxed, like a father about to elucidate his son. “While I may have been a B-17 pilot, knowing how to pick up a gun and fire it was standard practice in the military. I’ve sadly had to send a few fathers back to God, but I don’t regret putting my life on the line for my country. When you pick up a gun, you have all the power in the world at your fingertips, like wielding the power of God itself. It’s up to you how to use it and whether or not you're going to commit to the path of the warrior. It's a brutal one, but someone has to do it.”
Wynnstan felt at peace by that speech, like he was speaking to his own father. “Shaye, are you a follower of my father?”
“Ha, I’m sorry, but what?”
He banged the table and declared “That is something my father would absolutely say! Although in hindsight maybe that’s all why he was so leery about letting me have a gun. He’s a man who reveres the sword and believes it is an honorable way to die, as your fate is your hands. A gun? Well nothing’s stopping me from picking you off without you even realizing it…”
“Yeah, I have to say the era of the gun was definitely a point of no return in Earth’s history,” Desislav commented as he set Wynnstan’s food before him. “I’ve been grazed by bullets from hunters a few times and need I say more about The Great War?”
“I can understand where your father is coming from, Wynnstan,” said Shaye. “I’d argue you shouldn’t keep a man from his calling, however. A sword is vastly more honorable than a gun, as you can look your opponent in the eye and be at peace. A gun on the other hand is quick and merciless. Still, you can do a lot of good with a perfect shot. We live in trying times, but with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately it often falls on us to be the arbiters of war as the elected bureaucrats never get their hands dirty, having had a silver spoon in their mouth since day one…”
Blood-Wraith chuckled, recalling some of the stuff Will had told him about the Liger Brigade and Earth-23. He knew Shaye was from a different universe, but it all felt like him and Will were in the same boat. “Shaye, can you talk to Will when he properly joins the guild in five or so years?”
“Five? It’s going to take that long?”
“Well maybe six, I’ve sort of lost track.”
“And he’s a soldier?”
“Not quite, rather a special operative of The Liger Brigade who can assume military duties. Still, he had a lot on his mind when he was us and I think your perspective would legitimately help alleviate his worries.”
“Well shoot, Blood, you send him right my way anyways and we’ll have a good’ol talk…”
“Once he gets his head on straight. Check the records, as we had some roadbumps the others have no doubt mentioned to you.”
Shaye laughed. “Duly noted, partner.”
Serjiel then cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Wynnstan, I think you should stick with us going forward. Furthermore I feel you should join the guild proper so we can have a direct line of communication with the arbiters. What do you say?”
“Hmm…” He needed a second to give it some thought as he sipped his drink. “Well it wouldn’t be a bad idea given that the arbiters are starting to train ULTRAMagic mages again. Do you guys think you got what it takes to have me around though?”
“Well the epoch guild was quite hectic and this guild has certainly seen its fair share of adventures so far,” Tiberius noted, making Wynnstan laugh.
“It’d be really cool if you did join, Wynnstan!” Quasar asserted. “Everyone here’s having a lot of fun.”
Weaver chuckled and patted the boy on the back. “Well I don’t know if I’d call this fun, but we’re in it together and we’ll be here for you no matter what, Wynnstan.”
Wynnstan finished up his sandwich and soda, thinking about what he wanted to do next. As much as he loved the Tree People, it would probably be best to stick around with a bunch of other ULTRAMagic Mages. His mind was scrambled, but talking with them seemed to clear it up so he could think straight again. “Alright, you guys are on. Hopefully we can get ahold of dad and uncle before the worst happens…”
“Well with our goal of confronting and stopping Karnage, that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle,” Tiberius replied. “And hopefully we can continue to pull his minions out from under him and over to our side. We have strength in numbers after all.”
“You’re not going to get that crazy Morrigan chick to join us, are you?”
The others laughed with Blood-Wraith shaking his head. “Wynnstan, Morrigan is in legitimate danger,” he clarified. “While it was a wild goose chase before, now it is imperative we get her to come over to our side. She’s more important than most realize…” This was a sentiment shared by Ludwig, albeit for strange reasons consisting of phantom memories from events that had yet to happen to him.
Next: Chapter 14
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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